Over 750 high school students and 30 teachers from 15 high schools in Romania have benefited this year from the "Proud to Be a Farmer" grants, offered by World Vision Romania and BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions.

The main objective of the project is to innovate agricultural education to make it more attractive to young people.

The grants offered to the 15 high schools amount to €35,000, and the results are as follows:

- Over 750 high school students have received lessons on Agriculture 4.0 and sustainable agriculture.

- Over 30 teachers have received interactive lesson plans.

- 300 high school students participated in 26 study visits to 22 modern farms using modern technologies (precision agriculture machinery, autonomous pivots ensuring automatic irrigation, satellite-coordinated weather stations, state-of-the-art tractors, etc.).

- All 15 partner high schools have acquired equipment for lessons and practical demonstrations.

Additionally, over 50 students and teachers from 15 agricultural high schools in 11 counties participated in the Agriculture 4.0 workshop in Iasi, where they met with agricultural experts to learn about new technologies used in beekeeping, dairy farming 4.0, and Agriculture 4.0 technologies.

The workshop concluded with a study visit to the "Ion Ionescu de la Brad" University of Life Sciences in Iasi, where the research center, greenhouse, and mechanization and food industry laboratories were visited.

"I participated in a study visit to the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (USAMV) in Cluj and Cojocna Farm. I was deeply impressed by the university's research laboratories, the technological advancement noticed in agricultural practice, as well as the farm animals.

I discovered how sick animals are identified using state-of-the-art technologies, how they are treated. I observed the mechanized process of milking cows, how milk is preserved, and the milk production of a cow," said Nicu T., a ninth-grade student at an agricultural high school in Bistrița.

"I don't consider myself a teacher, but a mentor for students, a kind of older colleague who tries to inspire them. In a world increasingly suffocated by technology, industry, and pollution, where nature is forced to adapt where it can, it is important that through education, participation, and civic mobilization, today's youth realize the importance of preserving nature, using cutting-edge technologies - sensors, robots, satellites, and drones - to generate and process a huge volume of data accessible through mobile devices and various platforms," mentioned one of the university professors from USAMV Cluj Napoca. (Photo: Freepik)